Utah State Route 7
# Utah State Route 7

State Route 7 (SR-7), also known as Southern Parkway, is a 26.1-mile (42.0 km) east-west state highway in southern Washington County in the extreme southwestern portion of the US state of Utah. It connects the southern periphery of St. George with Hurricane, while providing access to the St. George Regional Airport.

## Route description

State Route 7 starts at its intersection with I-15 in southwest St. George. From here it travels southeast for about 3 miles (4.8 km) to immediately north of the Utah-Arizona border, then turning east and paralleling the border. Past interchanges at Desert Color Parkway and River Road, the road turns north-northeast and continues for 15 miles (24.1 km), passing Airport Parkway (which accesses the St. George Regional Airport) and Long Valley Road until reaching Sand Hollow Road, having an interchange with the road immediately southwest of Sand Hollow State Park. From this point onwards, State Route 7 continues east for an additional 8 miles (12.9 km), following the southern boundary of Sand Hollow State Park before gradually curving north and ending at an intersection with State Route 9 just west of downtown Hurricane.

The entire route is included in the National Highway System.

## History

Since the 1977 Utah state route renumbering, no route in Utah had been designated as State Route 7, until 2009 when the Utah State Legislature added the Southern Parkway from Pioneer Road to River Road to the state highway system.

The first portion of the freeway opened July 7, 2009, a link between Exit 2 at I-15 south of Bloomington (a suburb within the city of St. George) to River Road in south St. George spanning 4 miles (6.4 km). The second portion was completed in November 2010, extending further east to the new St. George Regional Airport. The third and final segment of State Route 7 between Sand Hollow Road and State Route 9 would finally open to traffic on May 20, 2021. The highway began as a mostly two-lane highway with at-grade intersections, envisioned to eventually be converted to a four-lane divided freeway. The majority of these intersections have been updated to the planned interchanges.

## Major intersections

The entire route is in Washington County.

| Location | mi | km | Exit | Destinations | Notes |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| St. George | 0.000 | 0.000 | | I-15 – Las Vegas, Salt Lake City | Western terminus; roadway continues west as Sun River Parkway; I-15 exit 2 |
| St. George | 0.444 | 0.715 | 1 | Desert Color Parkway | Formerly Astragalus Drive |
| St. George | 3.251 | 5.232 | 3 | River Road | Immediately north of Utah-Arizona border |
| St. George | 5.911 | 9.513 | 6 | Desert Canyons Parkway | Road is 2 lanes from this point eastward as of 2018 |
| St. George | 7.082 | 11.397 | 7 | Airport Parkway – St. George Regional Airport | |
| Washington | 10.385 | 16.713 | 10 | Warner Valley Road | Connection to Washington Fields Road |
| Washington | | | 11 | 3650 South | Construction to begin early 2023 |
| Washington | 14.720 | 23.690 | 15 | Long Valley Road | Connection to Washington Dam Road |
| ​ | 18.299 | 29.449 | 18 | Sand Hollow Road – Sand Hollow State Park, Hurricane | Formerly an at-grade intersection; immediately southwest of Sand Hollow State Park |
| ​ | | | 19 | 3200 West | Eastbound exit and entrance only |
| Hurricane | 22.9 | 36.9 | 22 | 3000 South | |
| Hurricane | 26.1 | 42.0 | | SR-9 | Eastern terminus |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Incomplete access Unopened ||||||
